Dr. Christoph Loenarz

Biography

Christoph Loenarz completed his PhD in Biochemistry in 2010
at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar under the supervision of Prof.
Chris Schofield FRS. His PhD research investigated molecular mechanisms by
which cells respond to changes in oxygen levels. In 2010, Dr. Loenarz was elected
to the William R Miller Junior Research Fellowship in Molecular Aspects of
Biology, where he identified novel oxygen-sensitive pathways regulating
cellular protein synthesis which are conserved from mammals to bacteria. In
collaboration with colleagues in Cambridge, he investigated how specific virus
proteins modulate the host cell’s hypoxic response. In 2012, Dr. Loenarz was
awarded a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship and elected to a Fellowship
by Special Election at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. In 2015, he was appointed
Assistant Professor in Chemical Biology at the University of Nottingham, where his
research principally focuses on (i) pushing the frontiers in epigenetics
research by investigating connections between post-translational modifications
such as histone lysine methylation and metabolic pathways of pathophysiological
relevance, and (ii) extending his recent high profile identification of an
oxygen-dependent mechanism that enables modulation of the accuracy of protein
synthesis.

Final-year projects & summer placements: Projects are available in the broad areas of chemical biology and synthetic organic chemistry.

EU Marie Curie Fellowships: European Union PhD holders interested in joining the group viaMarie Curieor other fellowships should also contact Dr. Loenarz directly.

Research Summary

Dr. Loenarz has an emerging track record in chemical biology
and interdisciplinary biosciences, having published >30 highly cited peer
reviewed papers (h-index 17; >1,000 citations in total; January 2015).

His research interests span basic science questions such as
investigating connections between epigenetic histone modifications and
metabolic pathways, the regulation of mRNA translation through ribosomal protein
modifications, the properties of dihydroxyproline containing proteins, and the
effect of nucleic acid modifications on gene expression.

Projects have been supported by the BBSRC since 2011, and
through the Leverhulme Trust, CRUK, and the EPSRC.